Jones - Animal Behaviour II

Animal Behaviour Biology 4701

last update: March 23, 2023

course outline for winter 2023 do contact me if you have any comments, questions or want to chat about anything

the course outline is also available in video form (with additional information and tips) on Youtube here

Seminar presentation instructions (here)

Laboratory schedule (will be regularly updated)

apologies for the confusion over the room assignment for our laboratories - we have been booked in to Chemistry C3053 for the labs

January 23 Genetics of behaviour, imprinting as a form of learning

Gould & Lewontin. 1979. The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist program. Proc.Roy.Soc. Ser. B (Lond.) 205: 581-598. presenter: Ian (example presentation)

Timm et al. 2018. SERT gene polymorphisms are associated with risk-taking behaviour and breeding parameters in wild Great Tits. Journal of Experimental Biology doi: 10.1242/jeb.171595 presenter: Shirin

February 27 Adaptive control of behaviour, circadian rhythms (beginning with quiz on Jan 23 papers)

Feng and Bass. 2016. Singing fish rely on circadian rhythm and melatonin for the timing of nocturnal courtship vocalization. Current Biology 26:2681–2689.presenter: Stephanie

Appenroth et al. 2020. Photoperiodic induction without light-mediated circadian entrainment in a high Arctic resident bird. J Exp Biol 223 (16): jeb220699 presenter: Danica

March 6 Optimality modelling et c.

Langerhans et al. 2021. Consuming costly prey: optimal foraging and the role of compensatory growth. Front. Ecol. Evol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.603387presenter: Mitch

Byers and Kroodsma. 2009. Female mate choice and songbird song repertoires. Animal Behaviour 77: 13-22. presenter: Josh

Smith et al. 2007. Songs of male humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, are involved in intersexual interactions. Animal Behaviour 76: 467-477. presenter: Nicholas

March 13 Communication

Robinson & Torjussen. 2020. Canine co-design: investigating buttons as an input modality for dogs. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1673–1685. https://doi-org.qe2a-proxy.mun.ca/10.1145/3357236.3395462 presenter: Zhongyi

Hammerschmidt et al. 2009. Female mice respond to male ultrasonic ‘songs’ with approach behaviour. Biol Lett. 5(5): 589–592. presenter: Zoe

March 20 Mate choice and mating systems

Walker et al. 2017 Sneeze to leave: African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) use variable quorum thresholds facilitated by sneezes in collective decisions. Proc. R. Soc. B 284: 20170347. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0347 presenter: Yun

Chabert et al. 2015. Size does matter: crocadile mothers react more to the voice of smaller offspring. Nature-Scientific Reports 5(15547) https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15547 presenter: Julian

Kneil et al. 2015. Novel mate preference through mate-choice copying in zebra finches: sexes differ. Behavioural Ecology 26(2): 647-655. presenter: Deepal

March 27 Mating systems

Rodrigues et al. 2009. Oxytocin receptor genetic variation relates to empathy and stress reactivity in humans. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (USA) 106 (50): 21437-21441. presenter: Amanda T

Morina et al. 2018. While males fight, females choose: male phenotypic quality informs female mate choice in mammals. Animal Behaviour 138: 69-74. presenter: Amanda S

April 3 Parental care, or not

Stredulinsky et al. 2021. Family feud: permanent group splitting in a highly philopatric mammal, the killer whale (Orcinus orca). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 75(3): 1-17. presenter: Madeline

Jonason et al. 2015. Birds of a “bad” feather flock together: The Dark Triad and mate choice. Personality and Individual Differences 78: 34-38. presenter: Abby

Juliana et al. 2017. Stress as an adaptation I: Stress hormones are correlated with optimal foraging behaviour of gerbils under the risk of predation. Evolutionary Ecology Research 18: 571–585. presenter: Haley